Nuggets G Arron Afflalo talks about his ejection

SALT LAKE CITY – Arron Afflalo is as cool a customer as you’ll ever find on a basketball court. If things are getting to him, the Nuggets starting shooting guard rarely lets it show. Emotion pretty much never gets the best of him.

But on Friday night, with one swing of the elbow aimed at Utah forward Gordon Hayward, Afflalo lost control. The severity of the impact is debatable, but it connected in Hayward’s neck/chin area. Subsequently, Afflalo was ejected from the game with 6:23 left in the third quarter.

This is what Afflalo said about the play.

“It was a bad play on my part,” he said. “I just kind of got frustrated with the game a little bit and tried to battle a few possessions here and there. A couple things I thought got missed (by referees) that were kind of blatant in terms of pushing off and pushing in the back – still no excuse to make a play like that.”

Hayward shrugged it off.

“It’s a physical game out there. You know, both teams fighting for a spot in the playoffs. I’m glad we got the win.”

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

Not a smart play for our best player in a game so important, especially if he gets suspended for the Wolves game.

The Voice

He should be suspended. There was no reason whatsoever for this action. It wasn’t even close to the play. He should at least get the 2 games that Smith got, but should be more. He could have fractured Haywards face, just because he was mad that Hayward could shut him down, but he couldn’t shut the “white boy” Hayward down. This was totally a racist incident perpetuated by the Thugget’s “star.” The Thuggets threw in the towel when they traded Nene for dufous #2; have fun in the lottery for the next five seasons.

Rampantsloth

Oh give me a break. Get a life man. The Nuggets have plenty of white players. Nobody on the Nuggets is racist.Get over this racist crap and enjoy the sport. And the elbow was not that big a deal. Have you ever played basketball? Stuff like that happens all the time. And no it could not have fractured Hayward’s face.

The Voice

I did enjoy watching the Thuggets get stomped last night. And yes, I do believe the elbow was racially motivated by a black player who couldn’t believe that a “white boy” was shutting him down. HAVE FUN IN THE LOTTERY! GREAT TRADE TO GET MORON MCGEE! HE IS ONLY SECOND TO DEMARCUS “SCREWBALL” COUSINS AS THE DUMBEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE

Anonymous

So not only are you a racist you’re one of those internet tough guys who talks a big game behind the shield of your keyboard. Name calling and taunts come easy to cowards when they don’t have to face the real world.

The Voice

If you in Denver, I may be closer than you think ;0 ANYTIME BIG BOY

Alexanderd91

That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard to date.. Get over yourself dude, has NOTHING to do with race, get a life..

Drawker

Might’ve broken your jaw, cuz you must take it on the chin quite often for being such an ignorant fool. But that swing would barely leave a lil bruise on most. There was nothing racial about it. Go back to ur trailer.

Oh, BS. Hayward should have been called for shoving Afflalo then crawling all over Afflalo’s back just before Afflalo threw the forearm. Hayward’s foul was blatant. And if the officials HAD done their job and whistled Hayward for the foul, Afflalo wouldn’t have thrown the forearm.

Anonymous

As a Jazz fan, I always looked at this kid as a gem. Hard worker, talented and tough minded. This turned out to be not that big of a deal, but it would have been if he had connected an elbow to a cheek. My only problem is that Mr. Afalo keeps calling it a “play.”

The Voice

He won’t be suspended. He is black and Gordon is white. If Gordon threw the elbow, Hayward would have already been suspended for 5-10 games, but since Afflalo is black and Gordon is white, nothing will come of it.

Nice to see Afflalo is proudly taking over the role of “Biggest Baby Thug on the Thuggets” since JR left. Have fun in the lottery, scumbags.

Nate

Afflalo is a gangster thug and he fits right in with the Thuggets. What a complete loser. Hope he gets suspended for 10 games.

PatH

Unlike some of the perennially successful NBA teams, Denver has consistently played “the right way”. They shoot a higher number of free throws because they press and they don’t foul a lot. Salt Lake, and some others, have talented players. They don’t need to play all the other games–the shoving, harassing, flopping, hacking—but it’s in their culture. When the refs condone this garbage it gets especially frustrating. It is cheating. It is a way that that the refs can swing a game to the other team. You saw Hayward and the others laughing about the outcome. That tells you what happened. Yeah, Aaron lost his temper. The refs rewarded the perpetrator. The game of basketball is the worse for it.
This is an old story in Salt Lake City. It makes we wonder about Utah, Mormon, “christian” values where it is ok to cheat to win. Reminds me of Romney who can say anything on any given day, depending on who he’s talking to.

The Voice

Coming from the fan base that embraces the likes of JR Smith as a “good wholesome player,” your statements mean nothing. The Thuggets are known for their dirty play and showed that it is alive and well in their new “star” player last night. Have fun being in the lottery for the next 5 years!

In actuality, most of us have never condoned JR Smith’s behavior or Carmelo’s when he was misbehaving. In fact, we don’t have any players that are like that. This incident with AAA was an isolated incident.

However, I see that you’re not really interested in basketball – you are more into creating antagonism so I’ll leave you to it.

Anonymous

First, the team isn’t the Salt Lake Jazz, second your team has been notorious for dirty play, the Jazz play hard quit your crying. And oh, how typical, a Nuggets fan resorting to calling everyone from Utah a Mormon. You’re an idiot. You wanna talk about an old story? Come up with another insult besides calling everyone from Utah a Mormon.

Roon_dott00

I think it is inappropriate to stereotype “utah” as “mormon”! Actually a lot of people from here aren’t Mormon and you don’t see us making negative comments about your religion, so why do you have to do it to us, oh yeah because you don’t have anything else better to do with your life! Plus Gordon Hayward isn’t Mormon so your comment doesn’t even make sense! You are just idiot! Get a life! You are just mad your team lost and a thug player got what he deserved, you would say the same thing if it was one of the Jazz players!

Anonymous

They didn’t lose… They got destroyed and it was awesome

Anonymous

This is the stupidest thing I have ever read. Are you saying that Hayward flopped when he got elbowed in the face?

“The Voice” is a Lie

Bro, have you been to Utah? The reason it is called the “Mormon Capital” is because that is where the majority of Mormon’s live. Mormon isn’t even the right term, it’s LDS, since a lot of out-of-state people refer to “Mormon” as FLDS, LDS, Polygamy (lol) among others. Utah is the “Mormon Capital of the World” because it has a Majority of Mormons, it’s not like Vatican City where EVERYONE is Catholic, no, probably 15% of the people in Utah are Mormon. Is that a lot? yes, but the EVERYONE in Utah is Mormon crap gets old fast.

Paul from Utah

I’m a big Jazz fan and I didn’t like the Afflalo elbow. I’ve always respected Afflalo as a good player and I hope he doesn’t do that any more. A fine and suspension will be appropriate.

I get excited about the Utah/Denver games as much as anyone, but sports rivalries should be fun. There is no excuse for disrespect. I must apologize for the comments by an apparent Utah fan signing himself as “the Voice” in this comment section. I love Utah, but we have a number of nuts here, and I suspect that “the Voice” is one of those nuts.

Anonymous

It’s no worse than Nuggets fans trying to say everyone from Utah is Mormon, or has 9 wives, or any of the other same old, lame jokes they have.

DH

Great class by Hayward. Uncalled for by Afflalo, and he knows it. In no way do I condone it, but at least someone on the team gets mad when we are embarrassed. Of course, he chose the wrong way to show it, and he will pay the price.

Bartonkev

Im a lifetime jazz fan. First id like to say that it was nice to see a relatively healthy George Karl on the bench. Second Aflalo should be suspended. There is no excuse for that type of play, it was good to see him take responsibility. Third “the voice” is a joke. If he is a real Jazz fan im sorry you had to waste your time reading that nonsense. Forth Javale and the rookie from Morehead are tough guys. Wish we had either one of them.

jazzpuck

Just for the record from another Jazz fan, this guy “the voice” doesnt represent but maybe one tenth of one percent of Jazz fans on the elbow. Though not one true Jazz fan would condone what was done, and Aflalo should recieve whatever the league hands out, you would hope that “the voice” could learn something from the guy who recieved the elbow and take the “water off a ducks back” its a battle out there mentality and just move on, without makeng an ahole of himself. Oh well, this is one more example of how one can paint many black. Even when the one, thinks that everything good is only white. What a slow learner. Go Jazz!!!!

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.